Thursday, October 18, 2007

Our latest review section is actually full of some really morbid stuff. For example did you know that it takes more than 5000 rads of radiation to fry your central nervous system, with death occurring in 0-3 days. If I got blasted with 5000 rads I would be hoping for closer to the 0 day mark than the 3 myself. Yikes! Also, it only takes about 200 rads of full body exposure to destroy your bone marrow, circulating blood cells and lymphatic tissue, causing death in 10-60 days. Yeah, happy thought, huh.

Anyway, the moral of the story, kids, is PROTECT YOURSELF from radiation at work and clinicals. Granted the amounts of radiation we work with are extremely low compared to the numbers I quoted above, but.....Think of it this way, too much radiation protection can never hurt you, but too little protection sure can.

Also, the three body parts that are most sensitive to radiation are the lenses of your eyes, your thyroid and your gonads. So don't forget those lead aprons and thyroid shields when you're in fluoro. And why not pick up a pair of leaded glasses (or BCGs), you can even write them off on your taxes as a work expense. Something to think about. We wanna keep all you radiographers out there happy, relatively unirradiated and able to reproduce. ;-)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

My whole last semester is review, which is good because I haven't thought about Compton scatter and the like since we first learned the material almost a year and a half ago. Our school has provided us with an online account that allows us to take practice tests that are set up just like the registry exam.

We can control how many questions there are on each test as well as which subcategories they come from (e.g. patient care, positioning & procedures, physics, techniques, etc.). It has been extremely helpful in studying for the Registry exam. I don't feel ready to take it yet, but I will soon. I just need to keep studying. Speaking of that, I better get to it. It seems to help if I take 1 or 2 30-question practice tests each night when I get home from clinicals. That way I've gone thru a large number of questions in a fairly short amount of time. Works for me!!

Monday, October 08, 2007

SLACKER!!! That's the word to describe me. At least in regards to this blog. I cant believe its been so many months since my last post. Unforgivable! With that said, please forgive me!! I've been so busy with school, clinicals, summer travel, my photo blog and various other things that I have completely neglected this blog. Sorry.

In a nutshell, school is going well. I'm half way thru my last semester. I cant believe it. The other night my wife and I were reminiscing about how long ago it seems that I started my program. Its been less than 2 years but it feels like so much longer. I have seen and done so many things in that time. I've grown and changed as a person and done things I didn't think I could ever do. But having said that, I still have A LOT to learn. We all do, I guess. That is one of the things about radiography that really interested me in it in the first place. You never stop learning and experiencing new things. Some good, some not so good. But at least they are new.

On the school front I'm doing well. I have finished all my competencies. My last was the skull, go figure. I did a great job if I do say so myself. It was actually on a Behavior Health patient who was very unpredictable. I must have had a rapport with him though because he cooperated perfectly for me, even though I was half expecting him to take a swing at me at any moment throughout the entire exam. Either way I comp'ed and it was my last one. Yay me!

I'm becoming pretty proficient in surgery and fluoroscopy, which is good because in 2 months and counting I will be on my own on that front. I still need to get more experience with children though. For whatever reason, we don't seem to get too many kids in our dept, so I don't have a lot of chances to "practice" with them.

About Me

The purpose of my blogs is to describe and relate my experiences as an X-ray Tech student as I progress from enrolling in a Radiography program in Phoenix, Arizona through graduation and my first job. I hope present and future x-ray tech students can learn from my blogs and maybe be entertained too.
Please email me with any questions you might have at: arizonadb2005 at yahoo dot com